Damian Thompson is Editor of Telegraph Blogs and a columnist for the Daily Telegraph. He was once described by The Church Times as a "blood-crazed ferret". He is on Twitter as HolySmoke. His latest book is The Fix: How addiction is taking over your world. He also writes about classical music for The Spectator.

Where has Barack Obama's 'Catholic' adviser gone?

What has happened to the "Catholic National Advisory Council" appointed by Barack Obama to help him win Catholic votes? It seems to have disappeared, following complaints that its ultra-liberal membership included pro-abortion campaigners.

Can Barack Obama get America's Catholics onside?

The National Review Online reports this mystery. Here's the full quote from Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, who urged Obama to dissolve the council. Looks like he may have got his way:

On May 2, I issued a news release calling on Sen. Obama to dissolve his Catholic National Advisory Council. My principal reason for doing so was his selection of dissident Catholics to advise him: for example, most of the public officials are so pro-abortion that they had a 100 percent NARAL record. On May 8, most members of the Advisory Council faxed me a letter defending themselves; I answered the same day taking them to task for their lame defense. But it now appears that my initial recommendation,to dissolve the group,may have been accepted.

There is no mention anywhere on the Obama website of the Catholic National Advisory Council. On Friday, we placed three phone calls to his campaign: two to media relations and one to Mark Linton, Obama's National Catholic Outreach Coordinator. We were told each time that someone would get back to us, but no one did. I then personally e-mailed Linton informing him of the three phone calls, requesting that he respond to my question: 'I would like to know whether the Catholic National Advisory Council for Sen. Obama is still operative.' He has not replied.

It would appear, then, that the group no longer exists. It is not hard to understand why. After being criticized by the Catholic League, Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City rebuked one of Obama's Catholic advisors, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius: she was instructed not to present herself for Holy Communion (she is a rabid defender of abortion). At about the same time, radical Chicago priest Rev. Michael Pfleger bailed on Obama by withdrawing his name from the Advisory Council. Now we find that there is no listing for the group on the Obama website.

Looks like the Obama campaign's decision to quietly drop its Advisory Council didn't work. We found out, and we've never been accused of being quiet.

Obama is known to have a "Catholic problem" Catholics just don't want to vote for someone so passionately committed to the attack on unborn life. His attempt to solve it has failed, so far. Perhaps he should ask advice from our own dear Tablet, which is beside itself with the excitement at the prospect of President Obama.Â